HawkWatch 2018 – March 7 – May 15, 2018

Count Hawks at Gunsight Mountain

at Mileposts 120 and 121 of the Glenn Highway

This spring, a decades-long goal will happen for the third year in a row! We have always wanted to do a complete and thorough Hawk Watch for an entire season at Gunsight Mountain.

This year, thanks to Neil Paprocki, it will become a reality once again!

Neil monitored our Hawk Watch site for 2 weeks in the spring of 2015.

His Hawk Watch International team returned in 2016 to count for the full season, and tallied over 3,000 migrating raptors. That total included over 1,100 Golden Eagles and over 1,000 Harlan’s Hawks.

In 2017, Neil returned again with two additional hawk watchers for the entire season.

He is planning on returning once again in 2018 for perhaps his final visit with his effort beginning March 7, 2018 and ending on May 15, 2018.

Gunsight Mountain Hawk Watch – Golden Eagle Release

Like last year, we are asking for volunteers to help the observers at Gunsight Mountain. Watching the whole sky for an entire day is hard work, and the more eyes the better.

Volunteer hours also are tallied and reported to various agencies who base their grant funding partially on how engaged the local community is. Your Hawkwatching help can determine whether this program is funded in the future.

One new development is that this is the LAST full-season Hawkwatch by Hawkwatch International at Gunsight Mountain. The organization is going to switch gears and do a full-season count at Kluane Lake in the Yukon to monitor more of the whole raptor flight path to Alaska.

If you can be of assistance at Gunsight Mountain, they’d love to have you join them.

It’s approximately a 2 1/2 hour drive from Anchorage, but early mornings are not necessary.

Hawks migrate by gliding from thermal to thermal, and those thermal air columns don’t usually develop until the day has warmed up. Arriving by 10:30 or 11:00 is perfectly fine.

The Hawkwatchers, are also sometimes in need of supplies. If you are heading up the road, please contact Keys in case they need any supplies ferried up to Gunsight Mountain.

We can also email more information about what to expect at the site. Just contact us before you go at flybynightclub@gci.net for further information.

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